Chadwick Boseman
Chadwick Boseman portrayed T'Challa/Black Panther in Captain America: Civil War, Black Panther, Avengers: Infinity War and Avengers: Endgame and will be reprise his role in the upcoming Black Panther II. Significant roles *Floyd Little in The Express (2008) *Lt. Samuel Drake in The Kill Hole (2012) *Jackie Robinson in 42 (2013) *Vontae Mack in Draft Day'' (2014)'' *James Brown in Get On Up (2014) *Thoth in Gods of Egypt (2016) *Thurgood Marshall in Marshall (2017) *Andre Davis in 21 Bridges (2019) Quotes *"The reaction on stage at the El Capitan Theater was, like, amazing. The way that Marvel set it up and wanted to surprise people with it, it was one of the best surprises that I've ever been a part of. I've heard from a lot of my friends, and a lot of people I don't know have congratulated me -- but I've actually not heard a lot from other people because I went away. I tried to get away from everything just to ground myself. But it's been amazing. I'm so excited! I'm ready to start right now, and they're telling me, 'Slow down a little bit!' ''" *"''It's never been done....It's been done before in different ways, but it's never been done exactly like this. Wesley Snipes also had his own franchise -- you have to acknowledge that. You have to acknowledge what Mackie's doing. But this is a little different in the way that Marvel is presenting it, so it's amazing." *"I'll be in ''Captain America: Civil War. We're preparing for that right now as well; I'm just sort of beginning the workout for that. We also have A Message From the King which will happen before Civil War." *"''I told some of my close friends. I had to keep quiet about it, so there wasn't a lot I could do to be honest. It was mainly after it was announced I could celebrate it with people. Just to spend some time with people that I care about afterwards. I'm actually preparing for another role at this moment. ''A Message From the King is the movie I'm doing next. I'm doing prep for that. To some degree, there are some things I have to do at the same time. Black Panther will have its time when it gets complete focus." *"''I mean, it's a challenge. I think that is a challenge that I feel is - want to put my whole life into... When you make these movies, you go away from the people you love. You can bring them to you on set, but you're spending months away from your loved ones and friends. You're spending most of the hours of your day concentrating on this... for months in advance of shooting, and you're spending months promoting it after it's over. You look at every film and go 'That's a whole year of my life' in some form or fashion. To have something that you really feel is gonna be interesting, cool, and a challenge, there is nothing you want more than that. And, it's Marvel... it's Marvel!" *"I think right now, it's just going through the possibilities of what he can do. It's a brainstorming phase, trying to figure out what it looks like -- I'm going to be as vague as I can! -- what it looks like and what it should feel like in certain moments. But just going through it, because there's always a difference from one story to the next of who he is -- trying to find a way to merge those things together. Because I think that's always fun when these movies work: it's when people see several things satisfied at one time. And I think that's been the fun part so far." *"Yeah. Really, all of it. It's just difficult with this particular character, because there are a lot of things in that time when it was written that did not exist but do exist now, so trying to figure out how would that work now. How is it special now in terms of technology and whatever -- but that's all I can say!" *"He’s definitely not the life of the party in this instance, I think this is something true of the comic book character and the movie. You never quite know where he stands. There’s always a bit of concealing and mystery. So I think mysterious is more his boat. Not to say there’s not charm and he can’t be a ladies’ man and all that. It’s more like if there is humor, it’s more like James Bond." *"There definitely is a sort of tradition that he’s torn between, in terms of how things were done in the past and how things need to happen now in this new world, I think there’s perhaps a bit of a maverick there, and then there’s also a need to live up to traditions and his father’s legacy. And not even his father’s legacy, but the entire nation of Wakanda. I think those are the things you will see." *"In publishing, he is sort of this very wise and a sanguine figure who seems to know more than he lets on, I think this is Black Panther in his younger years, where he maybe is a little bit more fiery than I think how they write him in the comics because he’s very much in the nascent stages of being a hero. So that means he is probably more fallible than the Black Panther that you read in comics, but for reasons that are completely logical." *"As far as the storytelling is concerned, the Vibranium is a metal that is dynamic. It can change how it’s used. It’s not a liquid, but it has the ability to change shape and change form and still have its strength. I think there a lot of things about that in the mythology that I think has a lot of potential in terms of the storytelling... It’s not just about being durable, it has the ability to absorb energy. It’s not just like you hit it and it doesn’t take it. It has the ability to absorb the attack of another person and repel or respond to that attack. That’s part of the power." *"There are some animal forms, but not just cat. He could be a snake, or various different styles. Obviously there’s an opportunity to do some capoeira. The key with T’Challa is to keep everybody on their toes. It’s to do the thing that is surprising, that you wouldn’t expect. So there’s a lot of agility and a lot of, like, ‘Why did he do that? Oh now I know why he did that. He was gonna come over here after he did that.’ I wouldn’t say he’s a ninja, but he does employ some of those aspects as well." *"It’s my political mission to tame it and get it under control, T’Challa is a prince of Wakanda. All heroes have a weight on their shoulders, but there will eventually be a difference in what I have to carry politically and socially." *"The idea of Wakanda is sort of, what if Timbuktu hasn’t been conquered? I basically listened to people and picked what sounded cool, since it’s not a specific place. It’s in the southern, central part of Africa. The attitude, the musicality, as is my preference of the character. It has to fit his dignity." *"It’s my political mission to tame it and get it under control. T’Challa is a prince of Wakanda. All heroes have a weight on their shoulders, but there will eventually be a difference in what I have to carry politically and socially." *"The idea of Wakanda is sort of, what if Timbuktu hasn’t been conquered? I basically listened to people and picked what sounded cool, since it’s not a specific place. It’s in the southern, central part of Africa. The attitude, the musicality, as is my preference of the character. It has to fit his dignity." *"It was a gradual process seeing the different parts of it put together here Los Angeles, and when they finished it there. And every time they’d add a part I’d be like, ‘You mean it’s going to cut off my air supply?’ Oh, okay, let me figure out how to breathe like that. It was just a process of getting your mind right. I would talk to the stunt coordinator, some of the stunt guys, and they’d be like, ‘Now you’re in there. You have to go to this Zen space." *"You could be having a great time with him at a party, and all of a sudden he disappears and no one knows where he is. It puts him in a position where he’s always going to be misunderstood by people. I love that aspect because it creates a dark side to him." *"I felt a constant anticipation of what’s to come while doing this, which is a beautiful thing. You always know this is going to get better and better." *"Obviously, I know how important it is, particularly for people of African descent. In terms of seeing everybody’s response to it, all types of people have responded to me since ''Civil War came out. He is there for his own purpose… usually what happens is 'well, he did this in this scene and now he’s doing something else and that doesn’t even fit the character. That’s the Magical Negro thing..." *"''I think we were very cognizant about making a character that had his own through-line, his own intent and he wasn’t going to waver for anybody else’s story. Anytime that I felt like that was about to happen, I’d be like ‘nah, this is what he wants. You can do whatever you wanna do but this is what I feel like he needs to be doing.’ I feel like that’s the key. Sometimes… I won’t say more than that. I could go into the Magical Negro and talk about that forever. I think the main thing is just keeping it very clear that he has his own arc and his own things that he wants and desires. He only changes that when something strikes a chord at his core." *"The thing that I like the most is him being challenged, taking criticism and finding a way to keep his focus and intent intact despite those criticisms. That’s what world leaders have to do. If you waver too much, if you give things away… sometimes you do have to give things away. You might give away something that you intended to give away to make it seem like you’re being accommodating. I think it’s that strategy and strength that I like. It’s not necessarily his physical attributes or anything like that. It’s his mind and being able to maneuver as a leader." *"It’s funny, because on one hand, the Marvel movies that I’ve liked the most are the ones that are funny. I love ''Ant-Man. But for me, most of the time the darker superhero movies are the ones that I gravitate towards, that I love the most. So I’m glad that I’m not in an Ant-Man. I’m glad that the tone of it may be a little grittier. I just wanted to establish that from the beginning, that that’s what we were doing. That that’s what I intend to do. I feel like we’ll end up in a place that I’ve always wanted to be when I look at superhero movies. Those are the ones I like the most. It’s exciting to do that." *"''I feel the energy. The image itself opens people’s minds up. You can talk about it all you want, you can have it in a comic book, you can even do an animated series, but when you see real people doing it, it changes something inside of you. It’s going to be a big deal because there’s not just Black people or people of African descent that want to see it, I think everybody wants to see it. That’s the beautiful thing. I truly believe there are more people who want to see it than don’t want to see it, especially after being here." *"This is an anti-hero, sort of. I feel like although he is a superhero, he is a super anti-hero." *"There’s a mystery and a mystique to him. So all those things to me sort of present a recipe for a darker drama than you might normally see." *"If you saw the tease at the end in Wakanda, that’s more mystery there so I think there’s a lot to reveal about the character. You’re going to learn about Wakanda, its culture, its traditions, the past. You can go through all the comic books and know that there’s more Panthers that have existed in the past - that’s origin." Category:Marvel Cinematic Universe cast Category:Captain America cast Category:Black Panther cast Category:Avengers cast